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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22809352">In Secret, Between the Shadow and the Soul</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/midwinterspring/pseuds/midwinterspring'>midwinterspring</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>As Certain Dark Things [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars Sequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dark Rey (Star Wars), Emperor Kylo Ren, Empress Rey, Established Relationship, F/M, Force Bond (Star Wars), Kid Fic, No Pregnancy, Parents Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, There's a toddler, oddly wholesome, reylo child</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 10:00:12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,833</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22809352</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/midwinterspring/pseuds/midwinterspring</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Five years after defeating Palpatine, Emperor Kylo Ren and Empress Rey rule the galaxy.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>As Certain Dark Things [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1731745</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>139</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>For one is both and both are one in love: The Reylo Fanfiction Anthology's Valentine's Day Exchange</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>In Secret, Between the Shadow and the Soul</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedPaladin465/gifts">RedPaladin465</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Thank you for the beta, Hannidae!</p><p>Now with a gorgeous moodboard by @curiousniffin!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p> </p><p>The Court in the new palace on Taanab is a place of elegant chaos. There are advisers, ministers, generals, admirals, palace staff, all vying for attention. There are the heads of corporations looking for lucrative contracts. There are the Sith Eternal cultists and all of the other Darksiders who have emerged to pay homage – and to compete for influence.</p><p>In the center of the chaos, the Imperial apartments are an oasis of stillness, a place for only the most trusted. There, past the opulent living spaces and the conservatory, Kylo Ren slips into the sunlit training hall like his own shadow.</p><p>Rey knows he's there, instantly. They could find their way to each other across the entire galaxy if they were somehow separated. Fifty feet of air in the training hall makes no difference. She doesn't react, though, continuing to run through lightsaber forms with her double saber folded. She glides through the movements, her black robes swirling around her.</p><p>She pauses for a moment, unfolds the saber, and begins quarterstaff forms. She moves more quickly, and her aggressive grace takes Kylo's breath away.</p><p>Her anger and passion were always so close to the surface. Now that she has accepted them, she is stronger, yes. But also, more <em>whole</em>.</p><p>His thoughts are open to her, and he's not surprised to hear her comment through the bond, <em>And you, my love. You are steadier now.</em></p><p>
  <em> Now that I have nothing left to prove. Now that anyone who would shame me is dead.</em>
</p><p><em> Indeed</em>.</p><p>Five years ago, they destroyed Palpatine and took the Throne of the Sith, together. Now they rule together, Emperor and Empress, their new Empire growing steadily.</p><p>They have plenty of well-trained guards, and the Knights of Ren are their most trusted attendants. But they both take time to train, out of habit and necessity and enjoyment.</p><p>“Spar with me?” she asks.</p><p>“Of course,” he says, shrugging out of his cloak and grabbing his practice lightsaber from its rack on the wall. It's wooden, with most of the weight in the hilt to mimic a real lightsaber, and heavier than the real thing.</p><p>She grabs a quarterstaff that mimics the balance of her double saber. She grins at him from across the room, her eyes full of feral glee. They start towards each other at the exact same time, at a dead run. Their wooden sabers slam into each other. Between them, their bond flares open, crackling with energy.</p><p>He moves out of the blade lock, and they circle each other, looking for an opening. Sparring, they are perfectly matched. He has a longer reach, but she is fast and can dart inside it. If she's fatigued from running the forms earlier, he can't tell. He draws on the Dark as does she and in that they are matched as well. She meets him with equal power, equal ferocity, and as they continue to spar he realizes that one of them is growling. It's her, probably, although they're so connected that he can't quite tell. Their bond being this open makes it hard for one of them to surprise the other, but it's also absolutely exhilarating. They are moving in a single dance, and as he thinks it, she lunges at him with one end of the staff. He blocks, and she ducks and comes up between his arms, shoving the practice saber aside with the staff. She leans back against him and looks up at him fiercely. They breathe in unison, as they often do. She smiles a tiny mischievous smile, and in a single instant, they both drop their practice weapons on the floor. He takes off his gloves and pulls her into a kiss, one hand reaching up to stroke her cheek.</p><p>And they're not alone. They haven't been, he realizes, for the last minute or so. Their daughter is standing there, in the middle of the room.</p><p>“What are you doing?” Princess Talia asks.</p><p>Between breaths, Kylo and Rey let all of the Dark Side energy they have been channeling fall away completely.</p><p>Ap'lek Ren is peeking in the door, trying to get the princess's attention while simultaneously trying not to intrude into the space. “Imperial Majesties...I'm so sorry...” he says, bowing.</p><p>“She is welcome here,” Kylo says, his voice steely, and Ap'lek shuts the door.</p><p>Kylo crouches down and holds out his arms. She runs into them, and he picks her up gently. She throws her arms around his neck.</p><p>“Your mom and I were kissing,” he says.</p><p>“I know that,” she says. “What were you doing before that?”</p><p>“We were training,” Rey says, putting her arms around both of them. “So we can protect ourselves and protect you, if we have to.”</p><p>Talia cocks her head. “It looked like you were dancing. With sticks.”</p><p>“Yes, it can be like that,” says Kylo.</p><p>“I want to learn to protect myself!” she says. “And dance. And do kal – kligraffee like you and draw like Mommy does sometimes.”</p><p>“You will learn all of that, if you want to,” says Rey. “Maybe starting with dance? Or drawing?”</p><p>“Dance first!” she says. She is quiet for a moment, then says, “So...so...do I have to wear black all the time?” Her dress today is black velvet with a flared skirt and lace on the sleeves.</p><p>Rey laughs. “No. You don't have to. You don't have to wear dresses all the time, either.”</p><p>“I like dresses,” Talia says. “I want a purple one.”</p><p>“Then you can have a purple dress,” says Kylo. “And we can find you a dance teacher soon.”</p><p>“Oh good,” she says, and hugs him tightly. Rey hugs both of them, and in this moment, he feels more contented than he dreamed possible. He senses Talia's contentment in the Force, as well. She is Force-sensitive - he and Rey felt it as she took her first breath, four years ago. Her presence is threaded equally with Dark and Light. The secret sparks of Light in both him and Rey resonate when she is nearby.</p><p>They hear a knock on the door. He reaches out to it with the Force and senses Ap'lek, as well as Talia's tutor Nerissa.</p><p>“It's time for your lessons, dearest. We'll have dinner with you later, and read to you before bed, though.”</p><p>“Can Nerissa teach me kligrafee?”</p><p>“Maybe. You should learn your letters first.”</p><p>“Okay!”</p><p>“We both love you so much,” says Rey.</p><p>“I love you too!” she says, kissing Kylo and then Rey on the cheek.</p><p>Kylo sets her down. “Come in,” he says, more loudly.</p><p>Ap'lek and Nerissa escort Talia from the room. “Take good care of her,” says Rey, her voice almost a growl.</p><p>“We will, your Majesties,” says Ap'lek, bowing again. Then they are gone, leaving Kylo and Rey alone again. They are silent for a moment.</p><p>“Do you ever wonder if she'll fight against us?” asks Rey.</p><p>“That she'll turn to the Light? That could happen. I don't know. We're probably more in danger if she's properly Sith, though. Whatever happens, she has to be able to make her own choices.”</p><p>“Whatever happens, she will be loved,” says Rey.</p><p>“Yes. Always.”</p><p>Rey unties the bun she has her hair in for training and lets it fall down around her face. Kylo smiles at that and runs his hands through it. She sighs and holds him tightly. For a moment, they are gentle.</p><p><em>I love you</em>, he says through the bond. They are still connected enough that she says it back in the same moment, and it is the same thought. She pulls him into a kiss, starting gentle and becoming fierce.</p><p>They break apart reluctantly. “We could stay here all day,” says Kylo.</p><p>“We <em>could</em>,” says Rey. “Not that it would be the first time we kept High Command waiting.”</p><p>He smirks. “Those meeting are always a good time.” In the five years since they took power, Rey has thrown herself into learning military strategy and tactics. She had a truly impressive and sometimes vicious sense of how to use every available resource. During his time in the First Order, he realized he found military matters boring. Now he is happy to let her take the lead in those meetings.</p><p>“Haven't even had to Force choke anyone in a while,” she says. “General Parnadee is getting a bit restless though”.</p><p>“Disloyal?” He frowns.</p><p>“No, no. Maybe a bit bored. Ground forces don't have a lot to do at the moment,” she says.</p><p>“Any interesting new tech from Kuat or Fondor?” Rey is also responsible for the plethora of diverse research and development projects that they have begun, replacing the older resource-draining superweapon building. The axial superlasers of the Final Order fleet are more than adequate.</p><p>“Kuat is working on some new walkers. Could have Parnadee be more involved in that, I suppose, but it's still pretty early.”</p><p>“You could train her in the Force. I think she's starting to notice she's Force-sensitive.”</p><p>Rey raises an eyebrow. “Sure you don't want to?”</p><p>“She's more afraid of you,” says Kylo. She bares her teeth in a grin at that.</p><p>“Oh, we're meeting with our ambassadors to the Inner Rim after that,” he says. Between the two of them, he is more responsible for anything related to diplomacy or trade. “The negotiations to have the Uebos System join the Empire have stalled.”</p><p>“What about with the Alepas System?” Rey asks.</p><p>“Cordial, but just beginning.” Uebos and Alepas are longtime trade rivals, constantly vying for prestige. Both systems are wealthy and situated near major hyperspace routes.</p><p>“There are a couple of research centers that still need locations,” says Rey. “Next generation hyperdrives and miniaturized fusion. Send an ambassador to Alepas and offer them one of them if they join us. Uebos will be right in line behind them.”</p><p>“We'll offer the hyperdrive center to Alepas then. Easier to explain. Then miniaturized fusion to Uebos when they join us,” he says.</p><p>“Good.”</p><p>He picks up his cloak and puts it back around his shoulders, then picks up his gloves. Rey pulls up the hood of her robes.</p><p>He knows how the next few hours will go. One of them will preside over whatever meetings are happening or listen to whatever petitioners their Chief of Staff has approved. The other will observe everything happening in the Force, silently offering commentary through the bond. The observing one will jump in to be the reasonable one, the enraged one, the terrifying one, or whatever the situation demands. It works. It works very well, better than he could have imagined.</p><p>They heard the whispers of a thousand generations of the Sith on Exegol, but they are something new. They are their own. One day, Talia will inherit what they build here, and remake it as she sees fit.</p><p>They kiss again, then settle themselves back into their public personas.</p><p>
  <em>Ready?</em>
</p><p>
  <em> Always.</em>
</p><p>Hand in hand, they leave the hall, going out into the worlds that they are making.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Title taken from Pablo Neruda's amazing Sonnet XVII.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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